I am most excited to graduate, and to finally have all of the hard work I have put in over the last 4 years to be worth it. I am also excited to be able to have a career that I will enjoy, and one that I can leave at the end of every shift knowing that I made at least a small difference in someone’s life. I know that nursing will not always be fun or easy, but I am excited for the future and for the people I will meet along the way and the new things that I have still yet to learn. Once I graduate, I will celebrate by spending time with my family and friends who have supported me throughout my tie in nursing school, and take a little time to relax before I start to study and prepare for the NCLEX. Going to nursing school during a pandemic has definitely created some anxiety for me. When we were still doing virtual clinical, I was nervous that I was not getting the experience that I needed in order to feel confident as a nurse after I graduate. Even though we are now fortunate enough to be able to return to in person clinical, I will always have some anxiety about no longer having guidance or help when taking care of patients.
In order to stay organized and stay on top of all of my studying and assignments, I have made it a goal of mine to make a to-do list for every week, and schedule out what I need to do on each day. If I know that I have an exam the following week, I try to make sure to get all of my scheduled assignments done early so that I can spend as much time as possible studying during the week. I sometimes struggle with getting distracted from my phone or other people, so when I study I make sure I am in a quiet environment with my phone on silent to avoid me wasting any time. The biggest thing that I learned from the ATI Modules and tests would be how to read and answer N-CLEX types of questions.
